Image copyright Dave Brain Image caption Dave Brain, wife Hannah, and their three children on their holiday in Florida last summer

　　When Dave Brain's father passed away, he decided to use money left to him to pay for a family holiday to Florida.

　　Going during the school holidays, he said, would have cost about ?8,000 rather than the ?4,500 they would be charged for a term-time trans-Atlantic holiday.

　　So Mr Brain, wife Hannah and their three children decided to ignore the threat of a ?60 fine and flew off for a two-week holiday last September.

　　Florida as a destination held particular importance for Mr Brain, of Bristol, because his late father used to take him there as a child.

　　"We try and stick to the holidays," he said. "But this was different and we budgeted for the fine," said Mr Brain, co-creator and producer of the YouTube channel Guksack.

　　After their return to the UK, the family received a ?60 fine for one of their children.

　　"And I would do it again in an instant if the same opportunity arose," he said.

　　Court case prompted 'temporary hold'

　　Some councils reported a drop in the number of fines issued for term-time holidays during a high-profile court case.

　　In 2017, the Supreme Court ruled against Jon Platt, who had won earlier legal battles against a ?120 fine in a case brought by Isle of Wight council.

　　Image copyright PA Image caption Jon Platt took his daughter on a week's holiday to Disney World in the United States three years ago without the head teacher's permission

　　Mr Platt, originally from Northern Ireland, was fined for taking his daughter on holiday without permission.

　　One authority watching the Platt case closely was Nottingham City Council, where the number of fines issued dropped from 1,129 in 2014-15 to just 282 in 2016-17.

　　A council spokesman said the authority had "placed a temporary hold on fines for holidays in term-time while we awaited the judgment".

　　Fining resumed last autumn, he said.

　　Parents in Nottinghamshire faced the steepest rise in the number of fines issued in England - up tenfold from 370 in 2014-15 to 3,771 in 2016-17.

　　Denis McCarthy, service manager at Nottinghamshire County Council said the figures reflected schools "being stricter about the circumstances in which they authorise absence".

　　"It essentially reflects an increased level of enforcement activity being requested by schools in response to parents removing their children from school in term time for an unauthorised leave of absence," he said.